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Siding For: Dinosaurs

The Dinomasher's Fury Structure Deck is a dream come true for a long-time Evol player and more recent fan of True Kings. The new Dinosaurs released in the Structure Deck are seriously impressive on their own, but it was the synergies with True Kings, the focus on Babycerasaurus, access to the Evolzar Xyz, and Yang Zing hybrid potential that made it a must-get for me.

I don't typically buy into new strategies on the basis of their competitive potential alone, but luckily you don't have to compromise tournament success to play this uniquely cool Dinosaur theme. In fact, several duelists scored Regional Top 8's immediately following the deck's release. Kyle Colon played a relatively pure build with True Kings at Charlotte North Carolina, while another duelist topped the Fort Worth Texas Regional with a mix of Dinosaurs, Yang Zings, and Zoodiacs.

Dinosaurs are poised to be a highly competitive strategy for months thanks to new True King support in Maximum Crisis. It's a great pick in the yet-to-be-announced Link Summoning era, and it's currently the deck-to-beat in the OCG. Code of the Duelist hasn't been out for long though, so things could change as OCG players continue to experiment with the Link mechanic.

Meanwhile, Dinosaurs represent another serious match-up here in the TCG. A respectable Regional weekend is only going to encourage more players to pick up and play the deck now rather than wait until May. I think it's time to make one last major revision to our Side Decks before Maximum Crisis is released.

Dino Do's And Don'ts
The core of the Dinosaur deck is Babycerasaurus and its new sibling Petiteranodon. The two monsters have nearly identical effects: if they're destroyed by a card effect you'll have to Summon a Dinosaur from the deck. Neither effect is optional, and both activate regardless of where they're destroyed. They do, however, need to be sent to the graveyard. Finally, Babycerasurus Summons Dinosaurs that are Level 4 or lower, while Petiteranodon Summons Level 4 or higher Dinosaurs.

Triggering the baby Dinosaurs is the easy part: True King Lithosagym, the Disaster is the go-to method of destroying monsters in your hand. In Maximum Crisis the burden on destroying cards in the hand shifts to the True King/True Draco Field Spell Dragonic Diagram and the deck's consistency will spike as a result. In the meantime there are plenty of times when you'll have a hand full of baby Dinosaurs without a way to net their effects, and that can be a bit of a problem against more consistent strategies.

If this card is in your hand: You can destroy 2 other monsters in your hand and/or face-up on your field, including an EARTH monster, and if you do, Special Summon this card, and if you do that, and both destroyed monsters were EARTH, you can also look at your opponent's Extra Deck and banish up to 3 monsters from it with different names. If this card is destroyed by card effect: You can Special Summon 1 non-EARTH Wyrm-Type monster from your Graveyard. You can only use each effect of "True King Lithosagym, the Disaster" once per turn.

Lost World makes your opponent's Dinosaurs much more difficult to battle. All of your monsters will lose 500 ATK and DEF, and if you control a Token of any kind you won't be able to target your opponent's monsters with card effects. Lost World also protects Normal Monsters, including any Tokens you control. The ‘cost' of that protection is the destruction of a Dinosaur in the deck, which is effectively another Summon for your opponent. Using Zoodiac Barrage or a Metalfoes Pendulum Monster to kick away a Token will Backfire spectacularly. Lost World turns would-be dead draws of Sabersaurus into reasonable Normal Summons.

Dinosaurs can compete in longer duels by leveraging Miscellaneousaurus and Souleating Oviraptor's search and Summon effects. The two of them together can repeatedly put Rank 4 Xyz onto the field each turn, similar to what we've seen with decks like Satellarknights. As the duel stretches on the threat of Tyranno Infinity looms larger, and it will force you to dedicate more resources to prevent a 5000+ ATK Level 4 monster from erasing the last of your Life Points. It's a well-paced, relatively consistent strategy with enormous damage output and a highly flexible Extra Deck. I think it demands at least some Side Deck attention, but as always we should prioritize cards that already cover common match-ups.

Accelerating Extinction
Graveyard dependence is a massive vulnerability for many otherwise-robust strategies, and Dinosaurs are no exception. Preventing your opponent from sending their cards to the graveyard will make Babycerasaurus and Petiteranodon useless, eliminate fodder for Miscellaneousaurus and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, and remove targets for Souleating Oviraptor's effect. It's a winning strategy if you don't get knocked out by a Tyranno Infinity. Ideally your efforts will slow your opponent's deck down enough so that they can't get quick access to it, but it's certainly the biggest threat to a banish-heavy Side Deck.

Alternatively you could side cards that prevent your opponent from banishing cards. That would effectivel shut off Miscellaneousaurus and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, but there's less utility in the match-up. Artifact Lancea can stall out certain effects and Summons, but in general D.D. Crow accomplishes the same feat. Crow also counters Elder Entity Norden and any teched Zoodiac engine. That said, there's one major reason to consider Lancea: Lithosagym's Extra Deck banishing effect. Chaining Lancea to Lithosagym's effect won't stop its Summon or the effects of the cards it destroys, but it will keep your Extra Deck safe.

Gozen Match is also worth playing if you're looking for a floodgate that'll stop your opponent's best plays. It won't shut your opponent out of playing, but it will usually burn a turn by forcing them to Summon Diamond Dire Wolf with two Earth monsters. Only Rescue Rabbit or a pair of highly specific Summons can outplay Gozen Match. Keep in mind that Oviraptor is Dark and Miscellaneousaurus is Fire. That leaves just Sabersaurus and Tyranno Infinity.

Rivalry of Warlords can be chained to True King Lithosagym, the Disaster to leave your opponent with nothing more than a 2500 ATK beatstick. The effects of Babycerasaurus and Petiteranodon won't be able to activate while your opponent controls a Wyrm, so even if you lose three cards in your Extra Deck you'll have effectively forced your opponent to discard two cards with a Continuous Trap. Rivalry can also prevent a Wyrm from hitting the field in the first place if your opponent already controls a Dinosaur. Lastly, Rivalry also prevents your opponent from Xyz Summoning any Rank 4 Xyz with Dinosaur monsters.

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Destruction effects run rampant in Dinosaurs. Although few of them actually target your cards, there are a number of effects that destroy your opponent's own cards. For example, Souleating Oviraptor can destroy a Level 4 or lower Dinosaur on either side of the field. My Body as a Shield can negate Oviraptor regardless of whose side of the field its target is. It's also a great solution to Evolzar Dolkka if your opponent tries to negate a monster you control.

Unless you're trying to fit Gozen Match or Rivalry of Warlords into your Side Deck you might not need to change it much to cover this match-up. That stays true after Maximum Crisis, where Ghost Ash is as close to a must-play card as we've had in a long time. There's a lot of room for Dinosaurs to grow before between now and May 5th, so knowing how the deck's core cards interact can help you much more than any specific Side Deck card.

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